Here is a list of all the teams from the 30 seasons to date in order of average leg placement. (Season 31 will be added to the main list after that season ends; during that season the leg-by-leg leaderboard will be updated after each night’s episode(s).)

The numbers before the team name on each row shows that team's season and that team's overall order of finish in that season. The fraction is a numerator equal to the total ordinal placements from the legs that team raced in added together, divided by the number of legs that team raced. The final number is the average placement taken out to a value of one-ten thousandth. Where more than one team has the same average, a team that completed more legs is ranked ahead of a team that completed fewer legs, and then, for teams that competed for the same number of legs, a team from an earlier season is ranked ahead of a team from a later season. Finally, where there are teams from the same season, with the same average, and lasted for the same number of legs, the team that placed closer to first place is ranked ahead of the other team.

Keep in mind that in seasons 6, 7, 9, and 10, there was an überleg (which is treated as two legs for the purposes of this list), that seasons 18 and 19 had legs with pit stops that had no intervening rest period before the next leg started; that 12 teams competed in seasons 3, 4, 10, and 15, and that ten teams competed in season 8. (In season 22, David-Connor decided to withdraw after starting the fifth leg due to David’s injury in leg 2 that required immediate surgery. While they reached the pit stop before any of the teams completed the leg, they are shown as checking in last for computation purposes. In seasons 25 and 26, there were four teams that started the final leg, with an elimination mid-leg. The eliminated team is shown being in fourth place.) Seasons 11, 18, and 24 featured teams with returning Racers only, although in two instances, a team was composed of team members who did not compete together in their earlier season. Teams with more than one appearance are listed separately for each of their seasons. Finally, in season 30, Leg 7 in Zimbabwe featured the first ever "partner swap" where a pair of teams switched partners for the leg and were checked in once both teammates had reached the check in point. Leg 7 was also a KOR leg. Because the only information given on air was the arrival order of the swapped pairs before teams were reunited and checked in, the team placement for leg 7 is the average of each team member’s arrival order as a swapped pair. No actual placement order for each team was announced.

The lines in navy blue with italics are the final three teams of each season. Teams in purple are the winning teams of each season.The teams that were eliminated during the first leg are in maroon.No team from seasons 18, 19 or 28 is in maroon, as no team was eliminated on the first leg. There is a paragraph break in the list after every tenth team.

The lower the average, the better the team placed on average. The best possible average for a team that reaches the final three (for an 12-leg race with 11 teams) and therefore, completes the Race would be:(1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1) 12/12= 1.0000. The worse possible average for a team that reaches the final three (for an 12-leg race with 11 teams) would be:(11+11+10+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+3) 87/12=7.2500.

(I used 12 legs, 11 teams as the most common variation in describing the highest and lowest values. This will vary slightly, depending on the designations of some legs as either NELs or an überleg in the Race design, and for the number of teams (10 to 12) and number of legs (11 to13) for any given season.)

Awesome list, as always. I think I saw you do this elsewhere in the past. I totally agree with counting TBC's as two legs (as there are typically 2 RB/Detours within the "one leg"). Sadly, it gets difficult to have a perfect comparison when you factor in races from TAR12 to the most recent TAR. That's due to the 11-leg format used from TAR's 12-14.

Something I did on my now "deceased" geocities site for the first 9 seasons was that I also factored in each team's placement vs. the field within each segment. In other words, it's each team's placement out of the # of teams the beat (or that beat them) within each leg. For instance, Flo & Zach finished 2nd in their first leg. I multiplied that by 12 (then 5*11 and 3*10 and so on to get to a total of 249 for Flo & Zach).

After the overall number was reached, I divided it by the total number of teams that raced in each leg throughout the race. For TAR3, that total would be 88 (12+11+10+9+8+7+6+5+5+5+4+3+3=88). Therefore, factoring the field in addition to a team's placement and the number of legs that team completed would have given Flo & Zach an average of 2.83.

It's a little bit higher than the 2.69 that you had, but IMO, I feel that it was more of an accomplishment seeing someone win a couple of legs with 9 or more teams racing in that leg, compared to someone winning 2 (or more) legs with 4 or 5 teams remaining.

I think I saved the other teams placement somewhere else, but I don't know for sure (or it's buried somewhere & I'd be better off recreating it to include season 10 and beyond). I like your list though in general; really gives a nice look toward how a lot of the teams performed overall during their stay on the race.

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Every reality star is someone's favorite

Winning isn't everything, but it isn't considered nothing either. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a tribal council, a pit-stop, a boardroom, dimming of the lights, and so on

I think a way needs to be developed to factor in dominance of a season despite not winning it. The prime example of this is Colin/Christie, who lost of Chip/Kim only by multiple instances of bad luck (fog in Calgary, bad advice from American Airlines, tire blowout in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area).

I believe that the necessary judgments to determine "who is the best team of all time" are inherently subjective. Statistics can only take you so far. You have to develop essentially qualitative measures that get somehow translated into numbers in order to accomplish a decent ranking.

There is an earlier version of this over at TWoP, but I haven't updated it in recent seasons, and there were inconsistencies in computation that needed to be fixed. I also decided that rather than round off decimals, I'd take the fractions out 4 digits. And the attitude of TPTB there isn't receptive to this sort of thing anymore, so it was time to move it elsewhere, such as here.

I've reached the conclusion that the variations in the number of legs and teams wouldn't likely make a real difference in this type of measurement. Dominating teams in a season are reflected in this placement approach; you need look no further than at the teams currently listed at the top of the listing. I'd also look at the final three teams that have the highest values, such as the ones averaging 5.0000 or higher, and I think there's little argument that some final three teams were very, very, lucky to make final three.

One problem in using mid-leg points to fine-tune placements is that the show is inconsistent in providing such points from leg-to-leg and season-to-season. Then there's the issue of bunching, and the issue of filmed but unaired tasks and route markers, both of which make having complete ordinal information impossible.

Finally, keep in mind that this is intended to be an objective tool, and not reflect subjective opinions. Of course, this listing is a starting point for those types of discussion, but that's fine with me. I doubt there would be any consensus on subjectively developed performance rankings anyhow.

I love your list! I've been hoping for someone to post something like this for a while. Thanks!

I found an error, though. In Season 7 you have it listed as being out of 12 legs, but if you count double-legs that would result in a total of 13 legs, not 12. That also means that Lynn & Alex raced through 9/13 legs, and Meredith and Gretchen raced through 11/13 legs.

I found an error, though. In Season 7 you have it listed as being out of 12 legs, but if you count double-legs that would result in a total of 13 legs, not 12. That also means that Lynn & Alex raced through 9/13 legs, and Meredith and Gretchen raced through 11/13 legs.

I kept each season's leg-by-leg placements, so I'll double-check when I get a chance. As you can gather, it's a very painstaking process, and all it takes is one interruption to mess up. And making sure all the uberlegs got treated consistently meant that I had to move teams up and down since originally I counted them as separate legs in some seasons and not in others. But the show has never failed to show the order of the mid-point arrivals for a double-leg, so it makes it easier to equitably treat it as two legs.

As to All-Stars , I think the numbers can be said to show that it was a fairly wide open season once Romber were out of the way. It's also surprising how many of the All-Star Teams had similar placement averages to their original season(s), which is what helped convince me that the approach I'm using to compute this list was the fairest way to go.

OK, I have found the problem, and fixed the list. It turns out that at some point the placements for leg 5 of season 7 got lost in the merged notes I worked from this week, although they were in my original notes I made back in season seven. I've recomputed the values for the seven teams affected, and re-ordered the list with the correct values for those teams.

Wow, amazing work! This is sensational, and I thank you for producing this!

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1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

Coming in first (or second) on most of the legs appears to be what most people mean by dominance; and in several of the seasons, there were more than one dominant team, and sometimes neither of those teams won the final leg.

In other words, there are different ways to define that term, and as a result, there's probably a mathematical formula to meet every different definition. This is where I apply the K-I-S-S principle, and that explains the reason why my approach is what it is.

I should point out that comparing any two teams using this list is relative and not intended to be exact; I think one could reasonably asset that where several teams are within say, .01 of a given placement value, and they raced in approximately the same number of legs, that those performances are essentially equal. But that is a subjective interpretation, and not necessarily a conclusion cast in concrete definitiveness. (Think about it, it's a play on words. )

Years ago I used to do this for the site (but it got to long doing every team) The only question I have is for the DBL leg, I assume you count how they performed during each half of the leg. And if so in season 9, who got to the matt first Dani & Danielle or Wanda & Desiree (I could never tell with the footage we got).

And for the Family Edition, The finale leg as two full legs in it, but where do you split it. At getting to the stadium or after they got their departure times?

As to factors, pure numbers aren't enough to go on.

For example seasons 1-5 had fast forwards available in all but one leg, these means in the legs a fast forward was used it alters the possible outcome in relation to other season.

Then you have the fact that seasons 1-5 let any racer perform all roadblocks.

Season one (and a few other times over the years, but season one was of course the worst) had much harder clues then most all other seasons. They also unlike any other season had no idea what to expect.

Seasons 13 and on, they had dramatically cut back on how much teams drive (this used to be a huge factor in how well you did).

Hell look at All Stars, and see how one airport mess really screwed with teams. Impacting several legs.

I don't look at episodes, I look at legs. (Only in the case of uberlegs, do I break it at all, and that's because we've always been shown the order of teams reaching the "continue racing" midpoint (even if that's been over two episodes, which is usually the case.)

Wiki doesn't keep track of that detail, but I have in my notes. One secondary source would normally be the CBS website, but those are impossible to retrieve these days, but Miss Alli's recaps also noted that information. (In other words, I trust my notes, as I've kept track of leg order of finish in real time ever since season three-- and reconstructing the first two seasons was easier then since CBS had "leg-by-leg leader boards." And that's true notwithstanding that CBS messed up a placement in season three that they never fixed.)

My theory is that notwithstanding the changes in how the over-all racecourse is designed (such as increased bunching) the overall average is what has value and not every single placement in each leg, or at points in the leg. It's like for other things, it is a measure of overall performance and not the moment to moment performance. Luck plays a role in winning the last leg; and no matter how you slice it, that can't really be measured....e.g., the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. (Just try telling me that the on-side kick play call in the third quarter wasn't a bit of luck.)

The reason I mentioned the first part of season 9's leg (is that we don't see it happen, not even from clips, so I always hated that). All we see is both on the matt at the same time (and order on the matt left or right isn't always the order).

As for the Family Edition, that final leg I hate (actually its their best leg), but I hate to figure out where the break would be.

Take a look at how that final Family Edition leg was constructed, and you'll find that it was next to impossible to determine a specific point as the mid-point of the leg. (I pulled out my DVD, looked at my surviving notes, looked at Wiki, and Miss Alli's recap of that episode.)

Even Wikipedia calls the Olympic Stadium in Montreal as an "ostensible leg midpoint" because of the ambiguity of the situation. Was it the order of arrival at the stadium, the order teams found the clues in the searching task in the stadium before resting overnight, or the time of departure the following morning? (All of which resulted in a different team order.)

In the other seasons with uberlegs, the double-length legs had a specific midpoint where teams were instructed to keep racing; and in season six (which was unplanned), the midpoint was generally considered to be the overnight wait at the cafe in Budapest. In many ways the FE final leg was similar to most of the early seasons where teams had an overnight wait that was not a pit stop in mid-leg of the final leg. With that in mind, I'm comfortable that the final leg in the Family Edition couldn't be treated as a true uberleg.

Sorry If I sounded like I was complaining about what you used, trust me I was complaining because I could never decide on which point to use as it effect all three teams. Personally as much as I hate the weavers I want to say arriving at the Stadium (since no other leg in race history has you looking for you departure times for your next episode, its always on that next episode). Of course, then the other arguement is that every TBC leg also allows a rest period between legs (that would mean its after you find your departure times, thus my grey hair).

Oh but I was wrong about Dani & Danielle & Wanda & Desiree it is stated on air (what was I smoking, now off to see if I wrote it down current or wrong).

Great research and work... However, I'm interested in a different sort of list. I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm curious to know, from the beginning of the race, the total # of m/m, f/f and m/f teams; the total # of openly gay male racers, (either on the same team or individually) vs openly lesbian racers; the # of "differently-able" racers; the # of racers in their 20s, 30s, 40s, etc; the racial breakdown of the racers: Asian, African American, Caucasian, Middle Eastern, etc... Consider it a sort of TAR census. I'd like to see the equality in The Amazing Race, (or lack thereof). Perhaps these #s could help broaden the horizons of the casting process, make for more original and interesting Amazing Race Seasons, and expand the fan base... Just wondering, thanks for the help!!

There are some problems with your proposal. Largely, how do you define "Differently-able"? A case could be made either way for Luke and Charla. Both these racers had a handicap while competing, but such a handicap wouldn't get them any parking privileges.

My point is, where do you draw the line? In these days, where obesity is considered a disability by some, who decides what makes differently-able on the race?

Let's leave THIS thread for theschnauzers updates and discussion of that technique please.

All that info you are asking for is widely available, if you want to start another thread and ask for help, feel free jtarhead11. I personally find adding labels to teams rather distasteful though, but I see where you are going.

Back to topic please.

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"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens."Phil Keoghan

Let's leave THIS thread for theschnauzers updates and discussion of that technique please.

All that info you are asking for is widely available, if you want to start another thread and ask for help, feel free jtarhead11. I personally find adding labels to teams rather distasteful though, but I see where you are going.

Back to topic please.

Georgiapeach, didn't mean to offend, and I'm certainly not trying to "label" anymore than the race already does. I was merely trying to explore some of the inequities in casting. For example, did you know that, including season 16, only 7 openly gay women have been chosen for the race, while the number of openly gay men is at my count at least 21. Seems a bit unfair don't you think?? And how many young, Caucasian Barbie and Ken type teams have been on?? Seriously, too many to count, but then America never gets tired of Barbie and Ken.

But you're right, I should have started another thread to discuss this so as not to distract from theschnauzers AWESOME statistics skills!

There are some problems with your proposal. Largely, how do you define "Differently-able"? A case could be made either way for Luke and Charla. Both these racers had a handicap while competing, but such a handicap wouldn't get them any parking privileges.

My point is, where do you draw the line? In these days, where obesity is considered a disability by some, who decides what makes differently-able on the race?

Hey now! I am no "disability" My deafness wasn't a big problem for me on the Race. Hence, my mom and I finished in Top Four in every leg for entire race! Isn't that pretty impressive?

There are some problems with your proposal. Largely, how do you define "Differently-able"? A case could be made either way for Luke and Charla. Both these racers had a handicap while competing, but such a handicap wouldn't get them any parking privileges.

My point is, where do you draw the line? In these days, where obesity is considered a disability by some, who decides what makes differently-able on the race?

Hey now! I am no "disability" My deafness wasn't a big problem for me on the Race. Hence, my mom and I finished in Top Four in every leg for entire race! Isn't that pretty impressive?

But under the law, I am labeled as disability. Oh well.

Luke's only disability has something to do with a certain Chinese bird...